About The Meimei

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Monthly Favorites: March Edition

This month's theme is "irrational obsessions," since we're dealing more with odd fascinations rather than outright declarations of "OMG THIS IS THE BEST EVAR !!!!111!!!!" Notice that there's not much here beauty-wise because, well, not much is happening with me right now beauty-wise... unless you want to count my super-hot passport photo, and even that's not available for viewing at this point.

By the way, if you haven't checked out Polyvore yet, I encourage you to do so now - and if you are a member already, please do add me as a contact! I'd love to see what you guys can come up with for your collections.

Anyway, on to the favorites...

- The red dress: Originally this collection was supposed to be "What I'd wear if I was invited to the Oscars," but that idea got scrapped after I saw the actual Oscar gowns. The dress here is by Alberta Ferretti - a bit of a "safe" choice compared to the kind of edgy couture that you'd see on celebrities, but I chose it because I love the draping, and I honestly think that I can make this work with my body type. This dress also marks the beginning of my renewed interest in fashion - between Ferretti, Marchesa, and Vivienne Westwood (which I'd like to explore further in another post), I'm actually becoming more fascinated with collections from female designers now.

- Natalia Vodianova: While she's been on my radar for a while now (especially since she's been on the billboards for the Filipino clothing brand Kamiseta since late 2009), Natalia really blew me away when she showed up at the closing ceremony for the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, as an ambassador for the 2014 games in Sochi. She is super gorgeous, and yet I'm more impressed by the fact that she doesn't live her life like a stereotypical supermodel: she's happily married (to a titled Brit, no less) and would rather spend more time on her family and her advocacies in Russia, which leaves less time for non-modeling things like acting and hosting. Plus I do love her personal style - and I think she's cuter with the shorter hair, too.

- Podcasts: I already waste so much time on my iPod Touch as it is, but even that doesn't compare to my weekly routine of downloading my favorite podcasts. Right now I'm obsessed with FitMusic and Motion Traxx for my regular workout routines, and the Celebrity Playlist Podcast just for the pleasure of hearing celebrities sharing their personal mixes. (Best celebrity podcasts of the year, so far: Pearl Jam, Snoop Dogg, Kris Allen, and... Perez Hilton, believe it or not.)

That said, I am deeply obsessed with This American Life -and I say this as someone who barely listens to anything on NPR - because I am constantly blown away, week after week, by the masterful way that they handle stories, from in-depth investigations on health care reform and gun laws to stories about pen pals and haunted houses. As far as American Life side effects go, though, the only thing more irrational than my voice-crush on Ira Glass is my fascination with their well-edited music choices - especially when they use snippets of songs like "Party in the USA" and "Unpredictable" as complimentary soundbeds for their stories.

- Earth-tone flats: I just got a pair almost exactly like the ones pictured here - in canvas, not suede- and I practically wear them everywhere. So comfortable, so versatile, so summery.

- Meiji Black chocolate: Or, as I like to call it, the best damn cure for PMS ever. I agree with the assessment that this is more like a "gateway" dark chocolate; as far as cocoa content goes, I'd peg this at around 65% cocoa, on par with semi-sweet chocolate chips. The only difference, however, is that Meiji Black melts smoothly and balances out the bitter and sweet components nicely, so there's not a lot of the sugary aftertaste you'd get from most commercial dark chocolate bars.

- "Cousins" by Vampire Weekend: It's rare for me to gravitate towards indie-darling bands like Vampire Weekend, especially since most of the indie bands I like seem to have been abandoned by their hipster fan bases by the time they're on my radar (*ahem*MGMT*ahem*). Between the nutty song and the even crazier video, however, it seems like the VW boys have finally succeeded in winning me over. Now, if only I can find a copy of Contraat my local record store...